Steerpike

When the actor Laurence Fox appeared on Question Time last week, and laid into the growth of identity politics in the UK, it's fair to say he didn't make many friends online. The actor has since been bombarded with abuse for refusing to apologise for his comments and was even denounced by the actors' union Equity, who labelled him a 'disgrace' – before the union retracted its comments. Now it appears the pop-star and mindless provocateur Lily Allen has added her thoughts to the mix. Apparently without any sense of irony, the singer hit out at Fox over the weekend, and claimed that she was 'sick to death of luvvies... forcing their opinions on everybody else', especially when they 'never have to deal with what normal people have to deal with'.

Keir Starmer has clearly decided that in order to win over the membership he must appear sympathetic to Corbyn and Corbynism. His campaign launch video was a masterclass in repositioning, presenting the soft-left Starmer as some kind of socialist stalwart. Indeed, speaking at the Fabian Society conference this afternoon, the frontrunner was asked by the Evening Standard's Ayesha Hazarika how he would win over those, 'who may worry that you have been too close to the past leadership?' Starmer replied: I don't accept this argument that everybody should have refused to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and we should have left our frontbench empty for five years so the Tories could wreck the country. I just don't accept it. A principled stand from Mr Starmer.

When Jeremy Hunt made it to the final two of the Conservative leadership contest, many presumed this meant he had secured at the very least a senior job in Boris Johnson's Cabinet. Alas it wasn't to be. When Johnson won, the then-foreign secretary was swiftly offered the role of defence secretary. He declined – insisting that he wanted to stay put. As a result, Hunt was shown the door. So, how does the MP for South West Surrey plan to spend his days now he is a mere backbencher? Rumours abound in Westminster that Hunt is considering putting himself forward for a coveted select committee chairmanship – the Health and Social Care Committee. Mr S understands that a number of MPs have been approached about potential support for the former health secretary.

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced last week that they were stepping down as 'senior' members of the royal family to 'carve out a progressive new role within [the royal] institution', plenty of eyebrows were raised at the couple's suggestion that they would work toward financial independence as well. After all, how will the pair manage to earn their daily bread without being accused of cashing in on their royal titles, connections and taxpayer-funded privileges? Mr S can't exactly see Harry heading down to his local job centre, while Meghan mans the nearby drive-thru.

Flailing leadership hopeful Clive Lewis has weighed in on the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle debacle, telling those at his campaign launch this morning that Britain needs another referendum - this time on the existence of the monarchy. Unsatisfied with the degree of discord sown in the wake of 2016, Lewis has decided that we need another national bust-up (never mind the fact that monarchists outnumber republicans by nearly three to one). After criticising the 'racist' British media for their reporting on Meghan, Lewis told the assembled room of reporters: 'One of the things I always talk about is democracy.

At present, it seems like the bells of the Elizabeth Tower will remain silent at 11pm on 31 January, as Britain leaves the EU. Although the new Speaker Lindsay Hoyle vowed at the end of last year to not block Big Ben ringing on Brexit day, an attempt to legislate the matter, by amending Boris Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement Bill, failed this week. Currently the clock tower is undergoing restoration and so only rings on special occasions, such as New Year's Eve. But one MP has not given up the fight for Big Ben to bong for Brexit. Today the Conservative MP Mark Francois stood up in the House of Commons to extoll the virtues of ringing the bell as Britain finally leaves the EU.

Jeremy Corbyn is a two-time election loser who condemned his party to a dismal defeat at the hands of Boris Johnson last month. So how would those vying to replace Corbyn rate his time at the top? Asked to give a mark out of ten, Rebecca Long Bailey had this to say: 'I thought Jeremy was one of the most honest, kind, principled politicians that I ever met...I'd give him ten out of ten because I respect him and I supported him all the way through.' https://twitter.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1214583725381603328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Mr S wonders what Corbyn's score would have been had he actually succeeded in winning an election...

Oh dear. It's not even 2020 yet and already the Labour leadership contest has descended into farce. Despite numerous private conversations over Jeremy Corbyn's successor ahead of Labour's election disaster, the Corbynistas have so far been unable to unite around one candidate. John McDonnell's preferred successor Rebecca Long-Bailey has taken so long to get her campaign going that seeds of doubt has begun to grow among what ought to be like-minded supporters. Rumours abound that her flatmate Angela Rayner – who had been expected to back Long-Bailey – could be considering her next move. Long-Bailey has today at least finally confirmed that she is interested in the leadership with an op-ed in the Guardian promising 'progressive patriotism'.

In previous years, Boxing Day has proved an occasion in which high profile Tories can find themselves in the firing line for taking part in various fox hunts across the country. However, this Boxing Day, it's another political figure making headlines for their interactions with a fox. Step forward Jolyon Maugham QC. The Remain-supporting lawyer and campaigner took to social media this morning to share his thoughts for the day. Only it wasn't a message that related to the UK's impending departure from the EU. Instead, Maugham announced that he had kicked off Boxing Day by killing 'a fox with a baseball bat' after it tried to get inside his hen house and became trapped in the process: https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1210110735189233665?s=20 https://twitter.